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Monday, January 28, 2013

Thrifting heaven

Hey all! Hope you had a lovely weekend! Mine was GREAT – I got in a bit of shopping which is always fun. And by a bit I mean a lot. :)

My favorite spot this weekend wasn’t a store though – it was a thrift/antique mart like I’ve never seen. A friend told me about it months ago and said we should check it out. We met there Saturday morning and I didn’t have high expectations – I thought it may be fun to browse and be in and out pretty quick.

Holy cats. It was so much dang fun. It was at a local conference hall and we were there for hours…I think we finally drove away almost four hours later.

We were both in heaven, it was a blast. We were GIDDY. I took some photos along the way so you can see what we were so excited about. Bear with me, they were all cell phone pics and it was crowded, so I couldn’t get great shots.

The sale had a fantastic mix of shabby, industrial, traditional and antique finds – we LOVED this booth with the industrial lighted signs:

I’ve been planning on making one of these on my own (using a tutorial like Lindsay’s) but I couldn’t resist these metal versions – I picked up a star with yellow lights I’ll show you soon. :)

I thought this was a brilliant idea – this vendor takes old dresser drawers and turns them into rolling foot stools:

Isn’t that fun??

There was a lot of furniture – I loved that little school house bench:

I negotiated the prices down on almost everything I got, but I was surprised to see great prices on so much. (A couple booths were ridiculous, but not many.)

This sofa was HUGE and beautiful and was marked at $399 (and that was early in the day):

I have never seen a rosemary topiary – have you? I loved the pretty clay pot too:

I use rosemary to cook and the smell is amazing, so I couldn’t pass this up!

I think one of my very favorite finds of the day was my first purchase –- a gorgeous brass bowl for $10:

I’m a little obsessed with it. I just love the colors and the design. Stunning.

I got a few more things I’ll share with you soon, as soon as I figure out what I’m doing with them!

So I had no idea this Indie Arts event happens throughout the summer too – I guess nearly every month here in Indy? They have one more indoor date planned for March too! I was thinking it might be fun to get a few of local bloggers/readers together to go to that one! Anyone in? I may try to plan something, stay tuned!

Thing is, now we’re in trouble because we know about this awesome mart and it happens more than once a year. Next time I will have to exercise more restraint!

I love shopping places like this – you truly find one of a kind pieces that no one else will have. Do you have any local places you check out frequently? Any great finds? I’m still thinking about some of the items I passed up…

Been reading your blog for about 2 months. Both my daughters are into music: one a band director the other a first-year general music teacher....it is HARD to find nice "musical" themed items for the home....love the basketCheers,Pamela V.

I'm soooo jealous. We have NOTHING like that in my area. Nothing! Of course it probably is best we don't. My hubby already tells me we have so much stuff our house has sunk a few inches. ha!So glad you did post the pic of the frames with the shelves put in them. I have some old frames just languishing in the garage waiting to be made use of. I LOVE that idea, thanks for sharing all the beautiful things!

Were you hiding from Val and me, because we were there too?! And, I can't believe you got the topiary. I was hemming and hawing about it (also the moss stuff she had in the rocks). Didn't end up with it, and went to Lowe's today to try to recreate and couldn't find any of the right stuff. ARGH... would I just buy it when I see it already?

We'll be there in March, too! So count us in if we're going together. Maybe you can force me to buy a topiary :)

You scored some great items. I try to go every month when they have it (love when it is outside at Glendale Mall - - not so cramped and you can really see the items for sale better, IMO). I had to skip this past Saturday though since we were having new furniture delivered. Hopefully they will announce a Feb/March date soon!

WOW! I want to go! I'll have to track down the schedule before I plan my next visit to Indy to see my family.Thanks for sharing! I wonder how I would get all the fun things I want back to Washington State without spending a fortune in shipping... Oh, and how does this fit into my new goal to become a "minimalist"?-ha!

Oh my goodness...AWESOME!! I'm totally going to the next one! I live in Fort Wayne and my sister lives in Carmel...on Carmel Drive in fact!! Would be such a fun sister thing to do together. I'll have to keep an eye out for the next event. Love what you bought!! Can't wait to see the rest. Thanks so much for sharing!!!

OMGOSH where do I start.. LOVE LOVE LOVE Those lights.. Need a phone no or a card from them.. Do you have a name of the sellers.. and THE FRAME .. I looked over at this big one that I have after I looked at that and THOUGHT >>OMGOODNESS............so going to do that ..and I loved that little stool with the french script on it... I wish i would of been there with you guys ..Can we say AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Thanks for posting about this! I live at Eagle Creek and this is only 20 minutes away from me! I have been following your blog for a couple of years now and never realized you were in Indy. What's your favorite Goodwills to hit? I find the ones near my MIL in Fishers are where I am the luckiest. Oh and have you been to the Atlanta Festival? I see some pretty cute and thrifty stuff. I told my husband I will never make him go to the State Fair, if I can go to the Atlanta Festival every year. Same food without the heat, and the joy of thrifting!

Just this past week, my husband and I found out that our local fairgrounds holds a huge flea market each weekend. We went and had a similar experience to you. It was AMAZING! Lots of unique things to decorate the home. I kept going back to the stands with the painted furniture. So fun!

It's almost freaky how every time I check your blog, I get a great idea. I always keep my throw pillows on the couch and the blanket draped over the recliner, but the kids are always tossing them onto the floor. A basket next to the couch would be so much better! I don't expect I'll find a basket as cool as that fold up drum one, but I'm gonna try to find one that is sorta see-through like that so you can still see the fun colors/patterns of the blankets/pillows. I love it!

I am soooo jealous! I'm in Michigan, but Upper Michigan so Indy's not too close. Might have to take a girl's trip one of these days. I have been looking for air plants too...will have to continue my search. Love the fold up "drum" basket and can't wait to see your light up star. Thanks for sharing

I think your brass bowl is decorated in (with?) cloisonne. It is a very ancient technique and artists still use it today. I believe today most objects are done with enamel paints but back in the old old days precious stones and mosaic stones were used and inlaid paintstakingly into the metal to achieve the desired effect. $10 is a great price for such an intricate work, particularly since anything with dark blue in it these days is highly desirable.

I'm so glad that you liked the idea of the building shelves inside a frame! I'm not sure if i can include a link of a relevant post for these frame-shelves I wrote a year ago (it would be considered as spam I guess), since it's been a trend here ever since. :)Love, Olga (olza007 at gmail dot com)

Thanks so much for posting about the show!! And a super HUGE thanks for featuring my sofa!! I'm doing a blog post linking back to this post today!! Thanks again and hope to see you at the next Indy show in March! :)http://jennicarrino.blogspot.com/